Wanted: The Dirt of Dublin.

The Little Museum of Dublin wants your dirt. Seriously. The museum has secured grant funding to acquire and frame collections of small local artefacts. With a hallowed place in the museum’s new Cabinet of Curiosities, the wish-list includes a sample of the earth from every part of Dublin.

Over the next few weeks the museum will acquire many collections of small things with a connection to Dublin. It could be 65 or 665 Dublin sweets, letters or shells. Maybe you own a collection of matchboxes, business cards, confectionery, groceries, shampoos, bottle tops, body parts, toothpastes, passport photos or drivers’ licences. The Waters of Dublin? Dried Flowers. Unusual stamps/coins/notes. Sea Shells, birds eggs and insects.

Muireann O’Sullivan of the museum stresses that while exotic collections are welcome, so too are more mundane items. “Perhaps you have collected the Dirt of Dublin,” she says. “A taxonomy of things found on the streets of Artane or Sandymount, from chewing gum to dentures. Perhaps it needs an audience!” Among the collections already acquired by the museum is a collection of tennis balls discarded by the dogs of Dun Laoghaire, 1997-2017.

To apply, please send a photo of your collection – and a short description – to muireann@littlemuseum.ie

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